Harry Styles Addresses Critics Who Question His Queerness

Harry Styles is responding to accusations of queerbaiting, saying that he has never "publicly" dated anyone in a new interview with Rolling Stone.

"Sometimes people say, 'You've only publicly been with women,' and I don't think I've publicly been with anyone," Styles said when the topic of his sexuality and accusations of queerbaiting came up. "If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn't mean you're choosing to have a public relationship or something."

Queerbaiting is an accusation leveled at straight people who appropriate queer culture and aesthetics for profit without explicitly claiming the community. The singer has faced such accusations throughout his career, as he makes unconventional stylistic choices by dressing flamboyantly and wearing dresses.

Styles, who is currently dating actress and director Olivia Wilde, was previously accused of queerbaiting in April of this year when he told Better Homes and Gardens that he has no obligation to publicly reveal who he sleeps with.

"I've been really open with it with my friends, but that's my personal experience; it's mine," he said. "The whole point of where we should be heading, which is toward accepting everybody and being more open, is that it doesn't matter, and it's about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you're checking."

Playing the role of a gay man in the upcoming romance film, My Policeman, Styles, 28, said that this role has led him to examine his understanding of his own sexuality further. "I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it," he said. "It's not like 'This is a gay story about these guys being gay.' It's about love and about wasted time to me."

"So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it," Styles says. "There will be, I would imagine, some people who watch it who were very much alive during this time when it was illegal to be gay, and [director Michael Grandage] wanted to show that it's tender and loving and sensitive."

In a new interview with Vogue, Olivia Wilde has opened up about her and Harry Styles' relationship. Wilde told the publication that it's really hard for her to bite her tongue when it comes to circulating stories about her personal relationship with the former One Directioner.

The Don't Worry Darling director said, "It's obviously really tempting to correct a false narrative. But I think what you realize is that when you're really happy, it doesn't matter what strangers think about you. All that matters is what's real, and what you love, and who you love."

Though the couple have kept details of their romance under wraps, they both haven't been shy to publicly support each other, with Olivia having attended Harry's concerts.

The pair first met while filming Wilde's psychological thriller, which Harry stars in. As we , the pair attended an intimate wedding in Montecito, California for Jeffrey Azoff almost a year ago now. Harry, 27, officiated the wedding and Olivia, 37, was his "plus one." Olivia was engaged to Jason Sudeikis for seven years and share two children together, Otis and Daisy. They broke things off last November.

See what folks on Twitter have to say about their ten-year-gap relationship below.